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Saturday, September 19, 2009

Favorite season and other thoughts

The approach of Fall is a bittersweet time here on the Southern Oregon Coast. Tourists pack up and leave; restaurants begin to cut their hours; school busses crowd you on the road. License plates from California, Nevada and Washington State start to dwindle. And folks who remain on the road drive more cautiously.

It is still sunny here, and though we've had a few incidents of rain, they have not changed the pattern of our sprinkling system. September weather is just like June's and July's. Yesterday, driving home from Coos in the afternoon, we turned the air conditioning unit in the car to keep us from overheating. Houses do not have air-conditioning.

Even hitchhikers and bike riders are getting scarce. Young people with cardboard signs indicating Eureka, San Francisco or Reno as their final destination, have caught their rides and gone south. Birds are beginning to stop on the lake. They don't wait too long though; they must smell something I do not. They are heading South too. Later, loons and various other fowl will settle down to winter on Lake Garrison, sharing space with travelers from Canada and Alaska.

By December, whales will frolick in the cold waters, feed their young and rest on their way to Baja. Many of our residents tend to do the same thing.

My pears and apples are ripening. Each day I bring in a barrel. Each day, I wash, cut, and slice. Each day, a batch or two get frozen for later use; a batch gets chopped up even further for cakes and muffins; a batch gets dried up in the dehydrator. I know this bounty means the end of summer, but I want more time to soak up the warmth, to experience lungful of marine layer, to play in the dirt, to chew tender beans and crispy cucumbers, to walk to the beach, to watch sunsets on the deck as late as ten p.m., followed by stargazing that goes on all night.

I also would like summer to go on, and so far fall isn't too obvious, but I know the season is essentially over for this year. And thanks for the comment on my frog. I'm not sure what it might be a sign of...

a nice reflection on what is quickly passing and what is right around the corner. i have enjoyed this brief interlude in between...having the windows open at night, listening to the crickets,feeling the cool breeze in the evening an the mid range temps...i cant wait for fall though.

Dear Rosaria, Though summer has its charms, fall is my favorite season of all! And everything you described today so aptly describes the feelings that accompany a change in the season. We are both blessed to be able to experience Oregon in all its glory ~ no matter which side of the Cascades we live on.

Such a beautiful picture you paint!! Fall is my favorite season, and you have captured its beauties, changes, and activities so beautifully with your pen!!!I find myself nodding "yes," again and again as I read this!~Janine XO

Our fall is probably more like your summer. But it still has that fall quality, something in the air as well as the lengthening nights. After our brutally hot and dry summer we seem to be having an early fall. Not sure how I feel about that though I am thankful for the cooler nights and mornings.

Thanks so much for connecting with my blog. Your post made me want to pack up my bags and head out west! It's much cooler on the Canadian east coast in the fall, but nothing beats driving in the woods after the leaves have changed colours.

Summer may be over here in Oregon, but at least we have a complete four seasons to enjoy. Funny how we all feel the change and are inspired to write about it. My post today was about the same topic. Just a slightly different angle.

Here in New England, I am also so reluctant to see summer fade. There's not much that can be done in the garden anymore (though I'm going to can some salsa this weekend) and the focus is now on stacking wood and cleaning up the yard before the snow flies. J says I love summer because it's fleeting, but so is winter and I don't love it so much...

I can envision the changing seasons there on the beautiful Oregon Coast. We have spent time in Canon Beach after all the tourists have gone south. It's kind of quiet, and lonely, in a way. But watching the whales migrate should help with the rainy season. Besides even with summer almost gone, you are after all, on the Coast. :-) It doesn't get much better than that!

It is one of those times when America seems to be on the move again. I like your photography.

I spent one day restoring Patty's computer. She clicked on an email she had sent that could not be delivered and was returned. She was curious as to why it wasn't delivered and clicked on the notice. Well, it was a "worm" that locked her computer and wouldn't let her do anything. When I got up the next day, she came out in her PJs and said, "My computer won't come on."

I had to reformat the hard drive and return it to the factory, new, condition. She lost everything on the computer. I feel sorry for her as it takes a lot of time to put her things back on the computer that she had saved on an external hard drive. Beware folks. If you send an email and it comes back, you should not open it.

I found you through the Walking Man's post on sexy beasts and had to come see what you do on your blog. You had me nodding my head in agreement with your citique; so far in my new blogging experience, it's rare to find a good critic. I'm looking for a good critic; would you visit my blog? I would love a teacherly view of the poetry I post there. Re: your take on fall--I often have been sad to see my garden dying as autumn approaches, and you gave me a moment of thinking well of the season that spells death for my flowers. There is some good in most things, I guess, as well as a little bad. My apples are delicious, and the birds have a field day with the abundancy of seed. My attitude could use some adjustment; thank you for providing just that.

The two books are available on the sidebar of the blog you left the comment on.

One is more of a kind of genealogy of all the people who ever lived in the village where I was born. The other is a small collection of short stories I wrote a long time ago. Nothing special but I did write them.

When fall came around my dear old grandmother would sigh and say:"Mon Dieu, il va faloir encore s'encabaner!" She was nor an outdoor person. While living in Val-David, the hills all around us were an explosion of colors and the brisk wind invigorated us.In our city dwellings, now, Fall is leaves to rake and the harbinger of dirty snowbanks lining the streets.All is so relative.

So glad you like this unique table! The only thing I am going to do is refinish the top and bottom. I won't touch the trim or legs. I'm thinking a technique that begins with primer, then a coat of grey, then blue watered down, then brown watered down ... and I think I may end up with a top that looks worn and old ~ and beautiful. At least, that's where I am right now ....

Lovely evocation of autumn! Living in a tourist town, I know the feeling when the flow lessens (they never completely disappear here). I quite enjoy it actually! Our Spring is truly underway here in the southern hemisphere, dry dustiness, but with green shoots appearing everywhere!

Ah, but it is the ending that grants weight to the during. And so it is with all. And that is why we should cram our cheeks full of beans and run the sands before our toes need wool socks!much lovenow git out there and run!erin

We're in the dog days of summer here. We had one rain storm which made us think of fall and now a heat wave which makes us all ask, "Why is it so hot so close to October?" But, it seems to be this way every year. If anything it should be our indication that Fall is really coming.Enjoy those spicy muffins!

I am delighted I found your blog. The name, of course, appealed to me as my 65th birthday is Friday, Oct 3. I will celebrate in Rome with 4 friends. I am, not so happily retired, from my forensic nursing position with the city and county of San Francisco, thanks to massive budget cuts to the Dept of Public Health. I had planned to work till 66, carefully budgeting to have bills paid. It's been a bit of a struggle raising three sons alone in this, one of the most expensive areas of the country.

Well, be that as it may, I did a pretty good job, I think with these three boys and I have still managed to see the world. Your part of it is especially lovely..and I've managed to drink wonderful wines wherever I've been.